Throughout this play by William Shakespeare, Richard III has been portrayed to have several faades. He has a charming, witty, intelligent, manipulative, confident and charismatic personality

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Explore Shakespeare's presentation of Richard III in his play Richard III By Dominique Baptiste Throughout this play by William Shakespeare, Richard III has been portrayed to have several fa�ades. He has a charming, witty, intelligent, manipulative, confident and charismatic personality. Shakespeare uses his own wit to concuss this character. He is driven by his own excessive motivation for power which he shows to us with his ambition to take control of the throne. Shakespeare presents Richard as the stereo typical anti hero, which is common in his plays. However, Richards's behaviour may be a product of Tudor propaganda. We, as the audience are fooled and find it hard to distinguish who or what Richard really is. His true personality never surfaces, therefore as the audience we are unsure if you like or dislike Richard even if we hold nothing but contempt for him. The first face of Richard is his low self-esteem, at the beginning of the play: "Dogs back at me as I halt by them" This makes us feel sad for him as we believe he is depressed by his physical appearance, as he believe that not even dogs can bear his "hideous" looks. ...read more.

Middle

Richard develops his confidence in manipulation, control and inexorable, his self image after winning Anne over: "Since I am crept in favour with myself I will maintain it with some little cost" This is Richard's self-love intensifies. Richard has the ability to lie and act convincingly. He hides his true personality and intentions. He has struggled immensely to gain the throne that he is willing to kill anyone in his way without any remorse. When he is, offered the throne he cleverly makes it seem like he does not want it nor has he ever wanted it: "If I should be? I had rather he a pedlar Far be it from my heart, the thought thereof!" This makes Richard seem sincere to the characters as he did not want t accept the throne, therefore manipulating them, as they would not suspect him for Clarence's death. Richard is able to play different roles such as an honest man. He acts like he is worried about the Queen and her power over the King: "We are the Queen's abjects, and must obey" Richard is discreetly manipulating everyone to turn against the Queen, he does this diplomatically as to appear as if he is concerned rather than greedy for power. ...read more.

Conclusion

Shakespeare has created a villain and anti-hero with numerous traits, personalities and fa�ades which make it hard to distinguish who this villain is. The villain is obviously Richard III. Through his soliloquies, the audience is able to have an insight to how insensitive, cruel and vindictive Richard is. His deformity and family background may have caused Richard to become very bitter and consequently cause him to resent life and became a villain. His actions cannot be excused because they are not morally accepted in society. I believe Shakespeare has regurgitated other villain from his previous plays and deformed this one. He shows a love hate relationship, we are as the audience is impressed by Richard as he has the ability to charm and manipulate his victims. His ruthlessness leaves no vulnerability to make him human and suffer the consequences of his actions, we hate him yet we are fascinated by him. Richard's scheming helped him come into power by other people failing to prevent him. Shakespeare created a character that we can only believe is fictional has he is so captivating. Richard can be compared to Hitler because he succeeded through his extremist personality. William Shakespeare created a complex, controversial and multi-personality character which will be remember for years to come. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Richard III section.

Related GCSE Richard III essays

divine perfection of a woman...Fairer than tongue can name thee," He flatters Anne to get what he wants. Richard shifts the responsibility of the murder, "I did not kill your husband...he is dead, and slain by Edward's hands. He blames Edward for the imprisonment and death of Clarence in a similar way.

people to make him want it even more so they keep offering it to him. Richard parts with Buckingham in act 4 scene 2 because Buckingham does not understand Richards orders which were with spite to order the death of the princes in the tower, to be blunt he says "Shall I be plain?

Her husband was also on a different side to the rulers at the time in the play so this could have been a bigger reason why she should not have been involved. All Through this scene, there are only female characters present so this could display Queen Margaret as weak.

But the play's later action shows that Richard is physically very active, and that he is in fact quite confident in his ability to seduce women. Bitterness at his deformity also fails to explain his overpowering desire to become King or his lust for power.

So it also shows us the moral values of society and how they are often very harsh. He also says "Dogs bark at me" this is a very strong comment and shows how even the animals are disturbed by his presence.

The villainous qualities he has shown are: treachery, disloyalty, jealousy, self pity, & he has shown he is false, double crossing, & power hungry. Also, to some extent he is a rebel, a non-conformist. This could be heroic or villainous, in the sense that he abides by his own rules (heroic), or that he is against society (villainous).

"No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity." "But I know none, and therefore am no beast." (Act 1 scene 2.Line 71-73) This is ironic as Richard is a figurative beast that displays no pity when it comes to getting what he wants and Anne fails to see beyond this falsified gentle side of Richard.

Richard feels cheated by fate, he has never had the opportunity to enjoy sexual ventures 'sportive tricks' because he hasn't been given good looks and the sex appeal associated with good looks 'I that am rudely stamped and want love's majesty'.